Three-time former Premier Silvio Berlusconi was ousted from Parliament on Wednesday after two decades as a lawmaker, defiantly calling it "a day of mourning for democracy" and pledging to continue in politics. After weeks of maneuvering, appeals and even an attempt to bring down the government, the 77-year-old Berlusconi's delay tactics ran their course when the Senate voted to kick him out of the chamber due to a tax fraud conviction.

Kansas

Murder suspect held on $5M bail

The man suspected in the deaths of a southeast Kansas woman and her three children and arrested after a manhunt was being held Wednesday on $5 million bail. A Labette district judge signed an order that gives prosecutors until Dec. 10 to file charges against David Cornell Bennett Jr., 22, who was arrested late Tuesday. Bennett is being held in connection with the killings of 29-year-old Cami Umbarger and her children.

Afghanistan

Attack on French aid group kills 6

Two fatal attacks on relief workers in two consecutive days have raised concerns that insurgents have begun deliberately targeting them. Six Afghan workers employed to carry out a literacy project by the French charity Acted were killed in an ambush on their car in northern Faryab province Wednesday by men who appeared to be insurgents, according to Afghan officials. On Tuesday, in southern Uruzgan province, three aid workers engaged in a village-level development project were killed by a remote-controlled bomb, officials said.

London

Report: NSA spied on porn habits

The Huffington Post cited a secret National Security Agency document that allegedly reveals the U.S. agency spied on the online sexual activity of Islamist radicals in order to find ways to discredit them. The website said the document, leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, shows the organization tracked six unnamed "radicalizers" and their visits to pornographic websites. It says the alleged electronic surveillance aimed to find their "personal vulnerabilities" to undermine their credibility.

Elsewhere

Lithuania: Valdis Dombrovskis, the prime minister of Latvia, resigned Wednesday, saying he was accepting "political and moral responsibility" for a building collapse last week that killed at least 54 people.

Baghdad: Attacks across Iraq, including a suicide bombing at a Sunni funeral, killed at least 33 on Wednesday, authorities said.

Washington: Nearly 40 news organizations have accused the Obama administration of improperly controlling images of the president by limiting the access granted to independent photojournalists while allowing free rein by the White House's own photographers.